On 27 August 2018, Kyiv's court granted the Prosecutor's General's Office access to text messages, calls and locations from the phone of journalist and editor-in-chief of TV investigative programme "Schemes. Corruption in detail", Natalie Sedletska. The ruling covers the 17-month period between July 2016 and November 2017, according to the Kyiv Post.

According to a letter signed by more than 30 journalists and NGOs, this decision is linked to the case against Ukraine's National Anti-corruption bureau head Artem Sytnyk - accused of divulging a state secret by leaking information to journalists - in which Sedletska and other journalists are witnesses.

Updates

06 Sep 2018

On 5 September 2018, a court has granted the Prosecutor General’s Office access to the phone records of Novoye Vremya magazine journalist Kristina Berdynskykh, reported the Kiyv Post. Berdynskykh is the second Ukrainian journalist whose cell phone data was disclosed to authorities within 10 days.
Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko’s spokesperson Larysa Sargan said that the warrant was “analogous” to the one targeting Natalie Sedletska’s phone records issued on 27 August by the Kiyv court.

On 18 October 2018, the European Court of Human Rights decided to extend its order banning public authorities in Ukraine from accessing cell phone data belonging to journalist Natalia Sedletska. The ban is in force “until further notice".

On 18 September 2018, the European Court of Human Rights has ordered the Ukrainian government to abstain from accessing any data from the cell phone of investigative reporter Natalya Sedletska. The interim order is in effect until October 2018 and can be extended afterwards if need be. The Court also decided to give priority to Mrs Sedletska's application.

07 Sep 2018

PACE Rapporteur on media freedom and the safety of journalists calls for respect of confidentiality of journalists’ sources.

OSCE Media Freedom Representative seriously concerned by Court order for disclosure of another investigative journalists’ data and reiterates his call to respect journalists’ right to protection of sources.